


Red Light + Eyes

by EWM



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), MacGyver (TV 2016), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe, Emotional Hurt, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Manipulation, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, F/M, Gen, Whump
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-22
Updated: 2021-01-18
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:00:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26602591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EWM/pseuds/EWM
Summary: I wrote originally for  this for the second day of @septembermacgyverwhump, MacGyver whump AU.I went very AU with Mac as Nebula, I dedicate this to @anguishmacgyver as another of their marvellous prompts started off this weird and frankly slightly disturbing universe in my head... https://anguishmacgyver.tumblr.com/post/628544951332061184This is attempt two, so feedback very much appreciated.
Relationships: Angus MacGyver & James MacGyver (MacGyver TV 2016), Gamora & Nebula (Marvel), Jack Dalton & Angus MacGyver (MacGyver TV 2016), Wilt Bozer & Angus MacGyver (MacGyver TV 2016)
Comments: 30
Kudos: 18





	1. Chapter 1

“ _Thanos spent a long time trying to perfect me..”_

The red light from the computer screen reflected onto his face, revealing the machinery that glowed just beneath his skin. The mechanics ran through large sections of his cheek, up to his eye and right down his neck. In certain lights, the robotics were barely visible, the only hint was a huge scar that ran down his face near his hair following the line of his jaw. Most people were frightened by the marks on his face, the way they seemed to appear and disappear in the changing lights, but Taylor hadn’t been. He had walked up to him in the bar and looked him square in the eye and told him he wanted him.

So Mac had followed him onto his ship; intrigued by Taylor’s ballsiness and the offer of serious money. Taylor had been vague about the job, only that Mac had a special skill set and that he was the very best at what he did. In the preceding 18 months, Mac had had far worse offers so wasn’t particularly worried and he knew that if he didn’t like what Taylor had to say or if he pissed him off in anyway, he could just kill him and depart. But now he was looking at Taylor’s vast computer screens, code sprawling down them at hyper speed, and his father’s name and his organisation, the phoenix, hidden amongst the 000 and the 11111s hundreds of times. Mac had almost killed Taylor right there for even mentioning his father; Thanos, destroyer of worlds, as the universe knew him, of course that wasn’t his real name, just an alias to frighten his enemies. 

Mac didn’t really think of his father like that, his thoughts about his father were more tangled, more poisonous, more painful than his official title. His father had taught him a great deal and kept him alive in the vast darkness of space. When his brother had slashed open his face all those years ago, Mac had been sure he was going to die. He remembered clamping his hand onto his bleeding cheek as he fell to his knees, he remembered thinking, finally I’m free. Finally no more pain, no more change, I can die and still be me. But his father, had been there to save his life, as he always was. He brought him back from death. He could still hear his father’s voice in his head as he lay there on the table, arms spread out, tied down like animal; pulling against the medical restraints so hard that he dislocated his shoulder in the process . He had heard the surgical robots before he saw them and and yanked himself away from the incessant clicking of the needles and the knives on instinct. It was a noise that had become too familiar to him since his childhood.

“If you can’t protect your face, then you do not deserve to have it.”

So Thanos had taken it from him, he had ripped it out of him and made sure he felt every single moment of it. When his cheekbone was smashed, when the blood vessels in his face had been removed and all replaced with metal wiring and circuitry, his felt all of it. He wanted to roar with the pain of it all, but Thanos had taken his voice too albeit temporarily, so all he could do when he was being ripped apart was scream in silence, sweat pouring down what remained of his face. The pain eventually won out and Mac collapsed in the medical bay of his father’s ship.

When Mac had woken up a day or so later, the first thing he felt was pain, the whole left side of his face was on fire. He tentatively put his hand up to touch his cheek, just as he had done after the fight, he could feel a series of raised white lines on his skin. His skin had felt strange, somehow more plastic, more artificial. He tried to pulled the wiring out of his arms in an effort to get the drugs out of his system and tried to get up, he’d immediately fallen, bringing the robots that ran the bay racing to his aid. He stopped them with a brush of his hand and dragged himself back up again and sat on the bed.

“I want a mirror.” He said

The bots rushed around looking for one, but nothing could be found.

“Mirror and reflection, not advisable, not advisable.” They chanted

“ I want a mirror…a reflective surface now!!” Mac screamed.

One of the bots carefully placed a tray in front of him, slowly Mac picked it up, then he screamed. When he saw the scars over his face…and his eyes. It was childish, but Mac had always liked his eyes, they were the only part of him that remained human somehow, they made him think of another life where he had done some good and was not a failure to be fixed, to be altered, to be “perfected”. They had been a light blue, like his mother’s, they were still blue, but now two red dots were there where his pupils had been. Scars covered one side of his face, but they seemed to fade in and out in the light, giving his face a ghostly, disappearing quality. His brother; Bozer had sniggered when he’d seen Mac’s new appearance

“Now I’ve got a map to guide me next time I cut you open.”

When he’d asked his father about it. Thanos has responded

“My son, those scars are for you, to show you who really are and to remind you. They’ll only be visible when you need to be reminded.”

Mac had soon learned what that meant, the next time he did not do as his father requested, he felt a jolt of pain spread through his face, it had spread down his neck and into his chest and down his arm. He felt it behind his eyes, in his head, his father was there commanding him, pushing him the way he was supposed to go, correcting him.

But that was all behind now, his hair grown out and that covered a lot of the ‘alterations’ his father had made to his head and his face. People were still frightened of him; when he looked at them, they shuddered or couldn’t look back at him, his broken form was revolting to them. Still he had escaped his father’s world; all the death and the destruction, he’d ran from it leaving his own trail of blood and bodies behind in his wake. Now Taylor was asking him to enter back into, to plunge himself back into the madness, to stop his father and his crazed plan, to save the world, a world that despised him for being a monster. 

Taylor interrupted Mac’s thoughts, he looked Mac square in the eye and offered him his hand

“Well, will you help or not?”

Mac smiled and took the proffered hand

“I think we can do business.”

“I’m glad Mr MacGyver. You really are incredibly talented, and you’ll be well paid for your aid. You really are remarkable.”

“I had no idea I had a fan; most people aren’t so eager to do business with me. I don’t exactly have the best reputation throughout the galaxy.”

“Yes the whole killing and assassinating people aspect of your personality. I would very much obliged if you could restrain that side of you for the duration of this job. What I really want is your building power, you create such machines Mr MacGyver, such machines and after all Thanos is your father.” Taylor coughed at this point slightly awkwardly “What better person to stop the destroyer of world’s than his son?”

“You’re aware I have a brother, aren’t you? He’ll try and stop me, you and whatever it is your planning.”

“Ahh but Mr MacGyver, we’re not doing this alone, you are brilliant as I mentioned. But you’re not the only one I need for this job. I have a team of people ready and waiting to help, to aid you.”

“I don’t exactly work well with people.”

“Yes…yes, the violence issue. But I assure you this time round it will be different and frankly you don’t have a choice in this matter. Shall we depart?”

Taylor walked through to the cockpit of the tiny shuttle and gestured for Mac to the same.

Mac snorted, part of him wanted to shoot Taylor or snap his neck. But he was also deeply curious to see what would happen when he met this team of Taylor’s and who would probably try and kill him first.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So finally a second chapter! Mac meets the members of Taylor's crew and it all goes a bit wrong and gets gross. Feedback and thoughts very much appreciated!!

The journey didn’t take long, the tiny shuttle had some serious speed attached to it. Mac made a mental note to look inside the engine at some point, he was fascinated to see what disruptors Taylor was using or had possibly stolen to break the speed force principle. Eventually they made it to Taylor’s main HQ, Mac presumed, an old space station known as Diamond Industries as a diamond mine had apparently existed on the planet below them that the station orbited. The tiny shuttle docked onto the station and pressurized, Taylor opened the doors and gestured for Mac to go through. Tentatively Mac walked onto the station, a series of battered grey corridors, rooms filled with what looked like out of date technology. Mac walked along quiet and thoughtful, the station was empty too that he could see.

Taylor led Mac through to one of the few rooms that was occupied, four others stood in it, one was absorbed in a computer screen. One smaller than the rest had a large pistol that she was playing with, flicking it safety on and off repeatedly as if to try and snap it. There was another who sat crossed legged on the floor, her hair was straight and black, her eyes were shut and if Mac wasn’t mistaken she was humming and then was a man, his back was to the majority of the group, he was tall, standing above all except Taylor. He had dark brown hair streaked with grey and wore black cuffs on his wrists, he was armed too with a pistol on each hip and a silver curved knife as well, quite an arsenal Mac thought for a group that was supposed to be working together.

Taylor coughed and they turned around, the women did very little. Well the one with the pistol groaned audibly, but the man reacted. As soon as he clapped eyes on Mac, he went for him, he pulled his knife out and went to slice Mac’s throat. Mac reacted immediately bringing up his arms to block and dodge out of the way, although the man’s knife did manage to nick his arm deep enough to open up onto the circuitry inside, Mac swore and went for a right hook as hard as he could aiming to crush the guy’s cheek. He would have managed it too if Taylor hadn’t thrown himself in between the two of them

“No, no, absolutely not, no fucking way...” the man said swearing as he backed off

“Now look Dalton, I’ve brought him because he’s brilliant and he’ll help this plan come off. You agreed to my conditions too and working with everyone in this team.” Dalton says still very firmly placing himself between him and MacGyver

“I did not agree to work with a murdering psychopath.” Dalton responded grinding his teeth

“Look Jack, cut the crap, I’m bored of listening to you.” The small woman said from a chair, she was done playing with her gun. She put her own gun back in its holster and walked over to Mac, she held out her hand to him. He raised an eyebrow at her civility but took none the less.

“He’s not even fucking human, look at him! He’s a machine, a god damn science experiment his father built!” Dalton responded again gesturing to the open wound in Mac’s arm. Mac glared at Dalton and pulled his jacket over his arm

“Ignore the ass hole in the corner, name’s Webber, I’m a pilot.” The woman said “That’s Desi” gesturing to the humming one in the middle of the room “and that’s Riley” gesturing to the head behind the screen. Neither of them paid him any attention.

“The dick who tried to stab you is a mercenary by the name of Jack Dalton. Maybe stay away from him.”

At that point Taylor interrupted them and said

“Thank you, Webber, ever the peace maker. I’ve gathered you all here because you’ve got a unique set of skills which I need. A set of skills which together will work perfectly for my plan. We all know why, we’re here. Together we are going to steal the latest weapon of the Destroyer of Worlds….” Taylor finished very dramatically with a low pause. None of the others seemed exactly fazed by this.

Mac couldn’t believe his ears, how nuts were they all? Steal from his father?? What? He couldn’t help it, he snorted audibly

“Something funny freak?” Dalton snapped back

“Oh, nothing, just that you want to steal from the powerful being in the universe and you seem terribly calm about all this. You don’t seem worried or concerned at all.” Mac snapped back furious at the jibe.

“Aww are you scared of daddy….Nebula.” Dalton paused grinning. Mac’s blue eyes lit up with rage, this time he went for Dalton, he upended one of the chairs and yanked the metal spike off ready to plunge it into Dalton’s neck. He stopped at the last possible second, prodding his neck enough to draw blood.

“I don’t go by that name anymore.” Mac responded breathing heavily.

“You sure? You seem to react to it awful fast. Why so upset Nebula? Don’t like your name? Why do you care? Aren’t you the biggest sadist in the galaxy? Trained to perfection by dear old dad.” Jack said smiling gleefully at Mac still holding the spike to his neck. The wiring inside Mac’s face flashed as he struggled to control himself, Jack registered the metal under his cheek and shuddered.

Mac pulled away from him and threw the metal spike into the ground with such force that it punctured the floor and walked out.

Webber looked up at Taylor and said pleasantly

“Well that went well didn’t it?”

At this point, the woman in the middle of the room who had been humming quietly to herself opened her eyes, calm surveying the scene. She got up and walked over to Dalton who was still fuming and gleeful in about equal measure, she put her hands on his shoulders and looked him straight in the eye. Slowly he seemed to calm down, or at least the red went out of his eyes and his veins stopped popping out. He smiled at her in thanks.

“Can you go look in on our newest crew member too? Your ‘gifts’ might manage to persuade him around to our way of thinking.” Taylor asked pleading

She raised an eyebrow at him, but nodded and walked off in search of Mac. She eventually found him in one of the abandoned labs of the station on the lower decks, she paused at the door fascinated. His arm was still bleeding heavily, anyone would else would have been in agony, begging for drugs or alcohol, but not him. Instead his arm was open on a table, the skin laid bare, metal rods were in place where his bones should be moving back and forth, there was wiring everywhere, Jack’s knife obviously got through as part of the wires were ripped and sparking. Carefully he put them all back into place, twisting them so they connected again, he had a red handled knife on the table next to him. He picked up the knife and pulled out two wires with it, grimacing slightly. He took the wires and stripped them of their casings so only the metal remained. After that he put them down, he paused breathing heavily, she saw that he was sweating slightly, clearly he was in a lot of pain. Maybe that was a way in with him? Eventually he put the flesh back onto the gaping hole in his arm, then he picked up one piece of wiring and inserted it back into the skin as kind of thread for stitches. At that point she felt she had to intervene

“You know we have actual thread for wounds, I mean there’s a medical bay and everything . Would you like some help with that?” she said walking in the door. He looked up in alarm, pulled his jacket over his arm again

“That won’t be necessary, I learned to fix myself long ago.”

“Impressive, if a little barbaric and unnecessary.”

“I’m sorry, but who are you again? And what do you want?”

“Desi, Russ thought I might be able to talk you round.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I know it's been an age, since I've done anything on this. But the world has got very busy and I've had one too many nonsensical ideas for other scribbles running around in my head :) Mac and Desi talk and get to know each other a little better, let me know what you think of the dialogue. Are they a convincing duo? or potential duo?? Feedback v welcome

Mac raised an eyebrow at the woman, but he appreciated bluntness if nothing else. He grimaced again, his arm would still need repairing, but that could keep until the sales pitch

“I’m listening” he said

“Alright, well I’m a little curious what your objection is?”

“I thought I made my opinions very clear.”

“You hate your father, that was obvious. But your actual objections weren’t exactly obvious.”

“Stealing from the Destroyer of Worlds, it’s madness, pointless risk and normally ends death or worse.” Mac responded darkly

“You did it.” Desi said calmly

“Yes and I paid for it.” Mac snapped again, unconsciously flexing his right hand.

“Look, we do what to steal from your father it’s true. But the fact is we’re not going to steal from him directly, we’re going to steal from the person who’s selling to him. We’re not going to attack your father directly, we’re going to the auction, he or at least his representative will be at and the device before your father has chance to buy it.”

“Or take it?” Mac said cynically “Where do you come into all this?”

Desi smiled at him.

“I have a way of persuading people to do things, I’m there to help smooth the process along.”

“So you’re a con artist?”

“I’m part Chitauri.”

“So you’re an insect?”

“Impressive, most people don’t recognise the species and no, I’m not. I carry their blood in my veins, I was orphaned as a baby and I was raised by someone else. I’ve worked Taylor on and off over the last ten years. He’s…”

“Let me guess, he’s good people.”

“God no, not at all. Corrupt, loves money, cynical and a little crazy. But…he’s very good at what does.”

“Which is?”

“Stealing things.”

Mac paused, he was fascinated by Desi. She was so straight with him, a complete contrast to Taylor, it was obvious why he kept her around. He was kind of charmed by her, but he also felt like he was being played, he knew a little bit about Chitauri powers, and some part of his brain could feel her influence seeping in. He did his best to keep his head, but his insatiable sense of curiosity was peaking a little, despite all the risk and the danger. Desi sensed she was winning

“We need you to get us in, your reputation will give us some extra power and your remarkable ability to…make things out of other things will help too.”

“You’re serious? Won’t my reputation as my father’s son be a bit of a problem? Most people run screaming when they see me.”

“I can help with that and frankly you look very different from your ‘Nebula’ days”

Mac shuddered at the name, but he sort of knew what she meant. The scars remained on his face, but they’d lost their potency, his father had lost some semblance of control over his, his eyes mechanical as they were at least under his power again and his hair grown long gave him a very different appearance to his days as his father’s assassin. People were still frightened of him, but it tended to be simply because of his own actions rather than his fathers.

“You can change the way people see me?”

“No, not exactly, but I can alter the perception around you. Ease off the psychotic threatening edge you wear so well and make it more mildly threatening.”

Mac laughed

“Mildly threatening, I like that. It’s definitely something I have never been called before.”

Desi smiled at him, Mac lost some of his rage when he laughed, the hard-angry lines of his face disappeared, and he looked well almost human. Well maybe not human, but more like a person and not an violent ball of rage and pain, which she could feel radiating off him in waves. She gestured for them to walk and talk a little bit more, Mac nodded. As they walked a long the corridors, she outlined the plan Taylor had told her as best she could. The auction, posing as guests, who all the rest of the crew were. Riley Davis – an electronics expert, brilliant she understood computers like nobody else. Desi watched fascinated at Mac’s reaction; he went very cold and hard again almost immediately. One too many people seeing him as more machine than man maybe? She put a hand on his non-wounded arm and explained that she wouldn’t be with them, simply handling security and getting past the many firewalls around the auction and the planet’s security. Next came Jack, another negative reaction, although that was more understandable (the whole stabbing incident had only happened a few hours ago), he was security too, but he would be with them.

He was the best fighter in three galaxies, invincible and good to have in a fight. Violent and thuggish to the core Mac thought, this Dalton character was going to give him problems later he knew it. Finally the small woman with the gun who had stayed out of the fight and watched amused; Matty – she was a pilot. She was the one who kept this rig going, made sure the ship kept plugging along. Taylor was last, he was going to be there as well, posing as another buyer to watch their backs in person and potentially get the device himself if they couldn’t. The idea being was to try and get the device after the auction, but before everybody left and escape without anyone noticing. Mac’s task was to build something that could shield the device from all of the sensors, but he wouldn’t be able to do that until he could see it, examine it and working out what signals and potential radiation it was leaking.

Not exactly an appealing prospect, but he was deeply curious to see if he could do it. And part of him desperately wanted to beat his father at something, anything just to prove he could. The rational part of his brain knew this was stupid, but he was only human (well mostly). He and Desi spoke for over an hour just walking around the ship, she answered his questions, all calmness and civility added in one or two of her own, asking what he could potentially do to stop the device, he explained that he didn’t really know, but he would think of something as he always did (not exactly confidence inspiring). Desi simply nodded, hiding her panic and her worry. They had to stop back at the medical bay as Mac did need to repair his arm, but this time round he somehow didn’t mind her watching, it was not quite so grim, the blood and gore weren’t so public. Desi didn’t comment, she simply stood next to him as he sat on one of the beds and pulled out the wires from his pocket. Her eyes didn’t fault when he sewed the wiring through his skin, she even snipped at the end so it wasn't trailing behind. He was rather surprised at her intuitiveness, but he nodded his thanks. So by the time, they got back to Taylor’s war room, Desi had just as Russ knew she would managed to talk Mac round or at least stop him running for the hills at the madness of the idea.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally I've managed another chapter of my Mac as Nebula universe :D I've had a lot of fun world building in this section. In this part we get more hints at all the internal characters thoughts, Mac muses on the plans for the heist as well the power Desi has over him and Jack airs his worries to Taylor about "Nebula". Thoughts and feedback super welcome :)

It turned out that Taylor had cut the putting together of his marvellous ‘team’ rather fine. The auction they were going to crash was in 72 hours – not really enough time to plan an elaborate heist. It was on the planet Pyras, a red world dominated by huge canyons and fires that stretched thousands of feet high, virtually uninhabitable bar the palatial structure at the centre of it (where the auction was taking place). It wasn’t that it was impossible to breathe on Pyras, there was in fact just about enough oxygen, but the air was so filled with smoke and gas that every breath you took was full of chemicals as well. In one way it was the perfect place to hold an auction for the worst of the worst in the galaxy as they were the only ones whether through fortune or guns who could get themselves there and find a way to survive. The plan was to go in as potential buyers and Taylor’s own criminal contacts had meant that getting an invite was easy.

Mac was amused by Taylor’s lack of explanation when asked about his criminal history. He made vague references to gun running, drugs and starting a fair few wars, none of them needed to worry. Desi had coughed violently at this point in the briefing and Mac smiled. Mac thought that in another life Taylor would have perhaps been an ally of his own father. He clearly wasn’t just a ‘thief’ as Desi had so elegantly explained, but Mac wasn’t shocked by that, he simply filed it away as a problem to deal with later. The prospect of stealing something from under his father’s nose was now ultimately too appealing to pass up (his previous rants and concerns had also been filed away perhaps unwisely to be dealt with later). He focused his mind back on the discussion at hand; Taylor would take the lead as a potential new customer and Desi and Mac would appear as his two seconds, Dalton much to Mac’s frustration would also be there as back up. Dalton was an enforcer and would supposedly keep them all safer longer enough for them to steal the thing and run. Webber would stay with Riley on the ship to overseer the operation and potentially shoot anyone out of the sky that tried to attack them. The ship would return to orbit after dropping them off and Riley would work remotely. She would take out all the various computer systems that surrounded the palace inside and out and making all the guard’s attention was not focused on the secure vault where the bio-weapon was most likely being kept.

Desi would mingle with the guests while Mac would disappear off and find the vault and open it up, he would take the bio-weapon, before it even came up for auction signal them that he had it and no one would be any the wiser. He still had no idea how he was going to open the vault or carry the device/cannister. A lot of pressure was on him to pull this off, if he didn’t manage it, they could all potentially end up dead or worse, Mac shuddered internally. He had to pull this off, there was no other option. The problem, well one of the many problems was that the information got unpleasantly sketchy at this stage and Taylor’s smiled increased as he nodded at Mac in the corner. Mac didn’t return the nod, he merely blinked at him and remained silent.

The 72 hours before they arrived on Pyras were tense, everyone was working hard, Riley went over what information they had on the computer systems again and again, she had an elaborate worm that she was going to infect the whole system with, the tricky part was keeping it under control longer enough that they could all get out alive. Mac went over the limited information they had on Pyras and what he could recall from his time with his father. None of this really helped him because it was all things he knew well, but it calmed his mind, and it gave him an excuse to stay in the sleeping quarters Taylor had given him and avoid Jack. If he was accessing data at a terminal in private, he didn’t have to content with Dalton glaring at him and spinning his knives in a threatening and frankly distracting way every time he walked into a room. Desi went into a deep meditative state for reasons she kept to herself, Webber checked through every piece of the ship’s tech making sure everything was functioning “just in case” she put it. Taylor, perhaps ironically had the least to do and gave off almost sociopathic levels of calm. He had hand-picked these people for this job and knew their skill sets forwards and backwards, even Mac; the potential wild card. He knew exactly what he wanted from them all. He had run through every scenario in every way he could think of and the plan should come off without a hitch. They were 9 hours from Pyras when Jack confronted Taylor in his quarters. Dalton did not like Taylor’s plan

“You’re relying too much on the assassin.”

“Assassin? Given the fact that we’ve killed a fair few people in our time Dalton, you’re going to have to be a little bit more specific than that.”

“Cut the crap, Russ. You know who I’m talking about.”

“Ahh yes, our mysterious boy wonder.”

“He’s a psychopath and a killer”

“Because you’re so terribly honourable”

“I’m a hired gun…he…that….that thing out there.” Jack responded gesturing wildly at the half open door to Russ’s room

“That is different, he…it is a freak. A monster made by his father….it can’t be trusted.”

“Again…none of us are exactly trustworthy.”

“Why are you defending him Russ? He’s a fucking psycho and way more trouble than he’s worth.”

“Why do you hate him so much?”

At this point Jack moved towards Russ his fist clenched. Taylor held up his hands in mock defeat

“Alright…that was cheap on my part. I know what happened to your wife, your brother and sisters. The rising massacre killed a lot of people. We all lost…”

“Mmmph”

“We all lost a lot that day. But…Mac…”

“Call him Nebula”

“Fine, Nebula did not murder your family and friends, his father did. The poison that seeped through the atmosphere, that was done on Thanos’ orders or have you forgotten that ??.”

“It was done by a device he…that thing built.”

“True enough…but we don’t know the circumstances of how it was built. I mean it was what fifteen years ago? Nebula…wouldn’t have been much more than a child, a teenager at the most? For all we know his father could have coerced him into doing it. “

“Yeah…sure, the murdering assassin…my daddy made me do it….boofucking hooo”

“Do we have a problem Dalton?”

“Excuse me?”

At this point Taylor’s patience ran out

“You come in here, complaining to high heaven at me with planet fall only a few hours away. Are you going to cause me problems or not? You knew what you were signing up for. No don’t interrupt and you’ve already been well paid and frankly if you want out, tell me now and I’ll have my money back and drop you off on the nearest planet or if you really piss me off, I’ll throw you out the god damn air lock!

Jack glared at Taylor, the slimy bastard. He knew full well that Jack wouldn’t give up the money despite the company. Steam came out of Dalton’s ears, but that was it.

“Fine…if there’s nothing else Dalton.”

“You’re still relying too much on him.”

“Maybe, but you don’t have to worry about that I do.”

“I have to worry if it gets me killed”

“If you’re dead, you won’t have any more worries at all”

“For fuck’s sake!”

“Dalton, if’s there’s nothing else. I’ve got work to do.”  
  
Jack swore once again and slammed the door as he left. Taylor turned back to his desk and mused, perhaps Jack was right. He was relying heavily on Mac’s reputation, it was impressive and if it had been even a little exaggerated then well they’d all be…no point thinking about it now. The odds were if Mac did fail in some shape or form, Jack would probably kill him, so problem solved. The trick was to stop Dalton from killing Mac before he played his part. Once Mac presented him with the bio-weapon, Dalton could do what he liked with Mac.

**

The time eventually came for the ship to land. Taylor’s horrible rep did it’s magic and they were allowed to land at the centre of Pyras, Mac observed the palace as they came in. It was a bizarre structure, all in white with huge domes and towers with what looked like some facsimile of gold around the trim. A strange blotch of extravagance against the bare landscape. As the white blotch got closer and closer Mac moved away from the windows and towards the hangar bay, the others were already there getting into breathing suits. It was a comic scene, as Taylor, Mac, Desi and even Jack were already elegantly clad as befitting the company they were about to keep. Taylor was trying to keep his coat straight as he climbed into the lumpy material and Dalton was grunting about not being able to carry guns. The no guns policy was something they couldn’t get away from and the suits.. all the guests of the auction house had to wear them as they arrived. They were white and grey with strange orange lines criss-crossed across the back of each of them, the cumbersome helmets came next and a coms check everyone could be heard just fine. The ship landed not long afterwards. The auction house transmitted a set of coordinates to Taylor and after much ceremony and hanging on, on the crew’s part, the hangar bay doors opened.

It was a bizarre sight, an old school glittering carpet had been laid out across the sand and dust. Robot guards flanked the sides tarnished and scratched from having to stand up to the weather of the world, the front of the palace despite an initial impression of being impressive was dowdy looking as if everything needed a paint job and upgrade. None of this phased Taylor, he walked forward confident or as confident as you can be in a space suit. Mac and Desi came next, Jack came in behind (another thing Mac didn’t like as he was convinced Dalton would shoot him in the back). Taylor came up to the huge double doors of the palace and presented a metal card after a series of bleeps and squeaks the doors opened and they entered. The double doors shut behind them and the four of them removed their helmets. Bots came out of nowhere and took the helmets away disappearing off through small white hatches, when they stepped out of the suits, the same thing happened again. It was not a good sign, if things went south, then getting back to the ship was going to be hard. Taylor smoothed out his own suit and his salt and pepper hair and walked forward to the next set of double doors. He wore black and white, with a short dinner jacket, it was elegant and showed off his slim form and made him look almost respectable. The affect was somewhat spoiled by his beard, but nobody was perfect. T

Mac and Desi came next, arm in arm, in other circumstances they would have made quite the power couple. Desi gripped Mac’s hand casting not an illusion exactly, but she made the heavy scaring on his hands and his face disappear or at least fade into the background and the red dots that were at the centre of his eyes disappear. Mac knew Desi’s powers or had at least a basic understanding her species, so he had an idea of what Desi was doing, but he couldn’t pin point it, when he’d asked Desi to show him, he had looked the same in the mirror. Mac also knew that Desi was stuck next to him to keep ‘him stable’ and ‘focused’. He was well aware that the whole crew was worried that he couldn’t pull off his part of the bargain. He could feel her influence in him coursing through the parts of him that remained human. On one level it was deeply disturbing and was powerfully reminiscent of his father, but on another level it didn’t bother him, the essence of Desi was kindness, calm and weirdly kind of encouragement. It was very strange to feel a force so inherently positive flowing through his veins. None of this showed on Mac’s face; his tangled up mind and the worries he had about the mission, pushed deep down. Mac was dressed all in black, wore a long coat that almost touched the floor and a set of black gloves. His long blond hair was combed back and his eyes were sparkling bright blue. He looked every inch the well off criminal and millionaire, someone would have to know Mac intimately or look very closely to recognise him as Thanos’ cast off son. Again Mac found a strange novelty value in people looking at him and not being totally terrified, there was a little bit of fear, eyeing up the competition and a certain level of admiration. Although he suspected that was more to do with Desi that himself, she was by his side clad in a long elegant strapless dress of green velvet with a long train which flowed after them. She had hundreds of tattoos across her arms and back which Mac noticed were all moving

“Quite the party trick” Mac murmured in her ear gesturing to her tattoos

“It’ll keep everyone’s focus on me, while you play your part.” Desi said smiling

“Frankly in that dress, that’s going to happen anyway, the tattoos aren’t really necessary.”

Desi smiled at Mac and he looked away a little embarrassed, he couldn’t quite believe what had come out of his mouth. He hadn’t meant to say it, it had just flicked across his mind. She was stunning in the dress and despite the risk and the worry and of course…the ever present shadow of his father in the background, Mac was delighted to have Desi on his arm and about to steal something valuable and potentially priceless and infuriate his father as an added bonus. Jack glared at the two of them talking quietly, he still didn’t trust ‘Nebula’, the apple didn’t fall far from the tree. He was sure of that, he was just waiting for him to slip up, just waiting and then he would kill him and it would be done.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mac hunts for his father's mysterious weapon and Jack finally cracks.

As Jack casually plotted Mac’s murder from behind them. Desi led Mac through the elaborate golden white hallway flanked by machinery and into the main dining room? Reception area? What did you call the area where multiple world destroying criminals and their nefarious henchmen hung out trying not kill each other. Memories of Mac’s own childhood flicked into his mind, when his father’s own subordinates had dragged him and Bozer then with they were still little. It was odd to see the crime lords he had stared up at when he was a kid now at a regular height (most of them had not changed in the 20 something year period since he had seen them). Some had had plastic surgery so their faces were stretched and shaped, others had oddly obvious bad dye jobs on their hair, while a few had kept their scars from previous battles and proudly showed them off. He’s robbed 20 worlds of their money while she’s a mass murderer and he experimented on people Mac thought looking at the various faces.

Mac’s eyes scanned the room and the various levels and staircases. It was a strange mishmash old-world wood heavily polished with a plush carpet at their feet complete with top of the line robotics. There were seven sets of stairs that led upwards. There were dozens of servants or slaves Mac presumed walking around balancing large spinning disks in their hands with peculiar little nibbles which guests ate, as well as plenty of alcohol of various worlds being given out. He checked out each door on each level, they all had two men, humans flanking them who were heavily armed. No, no, no, the door towards the auction storage space would be small and unassuming. Then he picked up, it was a grey/silver side door, half hidden by old world furniture. Two bots were buzzing around polishing things repeatedly. Taylor interrupted his thoughts while Dalton melted it off into the corner almost without Mac registering

“Now don’t be frightened people, mingle, eat a canopy, have a drink.”

“Is that wise?” Mac murmured raising an eyebrow

“Don’t worry my boy, my reputation is bigger enough that no one would dare try and kill me or anyone I was with."

Taylor’s confidence was a worry as well his mysterious hint to his past, all to be filed under deal with later. Following Russ’s lead, he took a nibble from one of the spinning tables and put it in his mouth and smiled.

“Desi are you ready to distract?”

“Happily Russ”

Russ then retreated into a corner and nodded ready and waiting.

“Any hints on what this distraction is going to be?” Mac murmured in Desi’s ear

“Don’t worry, you’ll know when it’s time and trust me everyone will be focused on me.”

This did not calm Mac’s concerns, but he realised at this point that he didn’t have too many other options. He smiled at her and released her arm. No one looked at him or freaked out, most of the men and many of the women’s eyes were on her in that beautiful dress and those elegant moving tattoos. She moved amongst them, assassins, thieves etc without a care in the world. She found her way over to a large drinks table on the far left corner mostly populated by men of multiple species. Mac watched amused and fascinated, Desi murmured something in one of their ears. Flirting and smiling then thwack!

Chaos speedily descended as guards and soldiers raced forward as did Taylor himself. Mac smiled again and departed knowing that he didn’t have too long to find the room where all the various weapons and treasures would be stored. He raced up one of the staircases and made for the silver/grey door he had spotted earlier on, he picked up on the noise behind him and turned. It was Jack close on his heels

“You should be helping them!” Mac snapped gesturing towards the ever expanding brawl below them

Dalton just smiled at him and gestured for him to lead the way. The doors that had previously been guarded by machinery and heavily armed men were now empty as they had all headed to the main hall to break up the “fight.” Mac moved towards the grey/silver door he had seen earlier, Dalton behind. He heaved the heavy furniture out of the way while Jack stood on the guidelines gun at the ready.

“Alright how we getting inside”

“Just watch and wait”

Mac went for the two robots that had been moving around them, seemingly unaware that they were breaking and entering. He took them both out with a kick and a smash, Jack smiled and was a little impressed, but then this was Nebula, he could kill anything. What happened next was what really shocked him. He watched Mac wrench one of the scanners out ff the arms of the robot and what was essentially their hand (basically a metal claw). Then he went back to the door, the door had a pad next to it with three insertion points inside. Mac carefully placed the points of the claw into each hole, when nothing happened, he cursed quietly. But went back to the remains of the robots, he pulled out his red swiss army knife and opened up the back of the bot. There inside was a rapidly fading power box, Mac snipped the wiring out and brought it back to the hanging tentacles of the arm. Very carefully he reconnected the power back to the arm, putting the wires into place. The power leapt through the wiring of the arm and the ‘fingers’ jiggled and moved. Mac held it in place for a minute or so and then the door slowly swished open. Dalton’s jaw dropped and Mac grinned gleefully as they both went inside. Mac left the arm dangling, but grabbed the apparently defunct scanner. The two men came through into a white corridor with three doors.

“Now what genius? How do we know which one it is?”

“This is what this is for.”

“I thought you broke that”

“Oh I did, but it’s basic functions still work”

“What?”

“The scanner is supposed to scan for high level toxins and metal, when I broke it, I cut off it’s advanced level capabilities, but not it’s power.”

“So?”

“So basically it’ll scan for objects still”

“So??”

“My god, I mean…we scan the rooms, the one with either the most stuff in it or the single storage item is ours.”

“That’s your plan”

“You don’t have to be here, go help the others.”

“Nope, I’m sticking with you. My job is to keep you alive so you don’t fuck this up.”

Mac glared at him, but ran the scanner across the walls. Sure enough a shadow of shapes appeared, one room was packed with guns, the other was completely empty and the other had a whole series of metal boxes inside. That was best guess they had, so they went for that one. Mac moved forward once again to open the door, but Jack pushed him aside and wrenched the lock out. He earned himself a glare rather than a thank you.

The room was mess of metal crates, Mac went to the first immediately the scanner in one hand and his knife in the other. He dropped the scanner onto the floor and used his knife to pick the lock, he wrenched open the lid, jewels and poison. He went to the second crate; a sword with a sparkling tip. At this point he looked around at Jack who staring at him

“You fancy helping since you’re here? We’ve not got too much time to find this weapon”

“No, not really”

“What Jack, come on, I know you hate me, but we both...need..”

MacGyver didn’t get a chance to finish his sentence as Jack pulled an elaborate swords out of the crate and pointed it directly at Mac. It was poison tipped and they were in a small space. Mac raised his hands

“I don’t know what you’re playing at…but”

“Just shut up…shut the fuck up…shut up”

Mac nodded keen not to die at the edge of poisoned sword

“You killed them…you killed them all”

“You’re going to have to be more specific Dalton, I’ve killed a lot of people in my life.”

“Don’t be flippant, you know what I’m talking about.”

“I really don’t”

“The rising bomb”

Mac swallowed, fifteen years previously the rising bomb and the subsequent deaths was not something he cared to recall.

“Who did you lose?”

“Everyone…my sister, my mom, my wife, my brothers…the bomb took them all.”

“I don’t know what you want me to say”

“You’re so fucking nonchalant about everything. You don’t even care how many people lost their lives…that day….it was a massacre.”

“Well…”

Dalton lost it at that point. He charged Mac in the tiny space, the kid through his arms up in response locking them in an X, he was determined to keep that poisoned tip away from him. He threw his weight against Dalton, Jack fell backwards with a smash, a crate fell on the floor, vials of poison spilled out around them. Mac threw a right hook, his metal bones cracking Jack’s cheek, Dalton slashed at him again and again. MacGyver kept repelling him, the sword ripped his clothes. Mac pulled the jacket off and hooked it around Dalton’s arms to push him back.

Jack once again fell backwards, but didn’t drop the sword. He grabbed one of the poison bottles and started to throw them at Mac, the kid dodged each one and then had to side step the liquid puddling on the floor. Dalton saw his chance and swung the sword at Mac’s leg tripping him and then he was on him. Jack grabbed Mac by his hair and slammed it into the floor repeatedly

“Just. Tell. Me. Why.” Jack asked again and again

Mac tried to grab at Dalton, but he was stuck and could his feel his leg starting to bleeding. He tried to push the sword out of Jack’s hand, but only managed to allow Jack to grab his own. Dalton lent forward pushing one of the crates onto Mac’s other arm trapping him. MacGyver’s head was screaming in pain

“Because…because…because…” Mac tried to respond in between ragged breaths

“Just fucking tell me…..” Jack screamed at him

“Because…..because Thanos threatened to kill my brother alright!! That’s why….I was 15 for fuck’s sake. My brother…he was the only family I had left. I…I destroyed a world so my brother wouldn’t die….”

“What???”

“My brother….Thanos….he said he’d kill him….”

“So you sacrificed my family and countless others just to save your own…”

“Yes alright! Yes !!! You’ve got your fucking answer now…just finish it!”

Dalton paused, he didn’t really know what he had expected when he’d asked the question; gloating, mirth, no emotion. But a brother? A 15-year-old boy being forced to make a horrible choice? Jack didn’t know what he would have done in that position. Jack dropped Mac’s head onto the floor with a smack and got up. The boy was breathing hard, he moved forward and pushed the crate off his hand. His left hand was now burned from one of the poisons, he held it up grimacing. Jack stood next to him, staring down at the kid.

“Changed your mind about killing me then?” Mac murmured getting up slowly


End file.
